Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the elementary grades. Teachers are increasingly looking for ways to help their students integrate literacy instruction with content area learning. This article highlights some of the similarities between reading comprehension and mathematical…

Many students with reading difficulties in grades 4 through 12 experience challenges in understanding and learning from text. Some of these learners have demonstrated reading challenges from the early grades and have not acquired successful reading skills. Others were adequate readers in the early grades when word reading was the focus and when…

Adolescent English language learners (ELLs) with learning difficulties face many challenges when reading in the content areas. In this article, we review what research tells us about how best to support ELLs' reading comprehension and content learning. We draw from recent research syntheses as well as individual studies. We highlight one…

The authors examined the role of an intervention designed to increase reading comprehension, reading self-efficacy beliefs, and engagement in social studies for middle school students of varying language backgrounds. Thirteen sixth- and seventh-grade teachers implemented the United States History for Engaged Reading (USHER) program with their…

The associations among second- and third-grade students' content-area knowledge, vocabulary, and reading gains and the science instruction they received were examined in this exploratory longitudinal study. We also asked whether there were child characteristics x instruction interaction effects on students' content-area literacy. Second graders (n…

Student-generated questions in relation to text were examined in two studies. Study I examined the impact of student questioning in relation to general vocabulary in English-Only Speakers (EOs) and English language learners (ELLs). Findings indicated that questioning predicted comprehension in the reading comprehension of both groups of readers,…

"Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction" is a reading comprehension instructional program for grades 3-9 that integrates reading and science through activities and the use of science books during reading instruction. The program supplements a school's standard science and reading curricula and offers instruction in reading strategies,…

This article discusses the benefits of using picture books with adolescent readers, describes strategies that can be taught with picture books, and provides examples of books the author has used. Some of the topics discussed include: reading comprehension, visual literacy, interactive read-aloud with facilitative talk, literary elements, and…

The study reviewed in this paper examined the impact of "Collaborative Strategic Reading" ("CSR"), a set of instructional strategies used to build reading proficiency, on the reading comprehension of fifth-grade students. The analysis included 1,355 students from 74 social studies classrooms within 26 linguistically diverse…

The Question Answer Relationship (QAR) literacy strategy was integrated into science instruction in a fourth grade classroom. Ten students who struggled with reading, including some who were diagnosed with a reading disability, participated in this study. Significant gains were made in reading by the 10 student participants in comprehending…

Addressed is the current practice in educational reform of reducing time for science instruction in favor of traditional reading/language arts instruction. In contrast, presented is an evidence-based rationale for increasing instructional time for K-5 science instruction as an educational reform initiative. Overviewed are consensus…

This study investigated the influence of general vocabulary knowledge, science vocabulary knowledge, and text based questioning on the science reading comprehension of three types of students who varied in their English language proficiency. Specifically, grade 5 English-Only speakers, English Language Learners in the United States, and students…

Multimodal learning materials are frequently met in education assuming enhanced learning outcomes. This study examined whether contrasts in such materials are likely to support reading comprehension for all readers. Young adults (n = 46) met either text-only or text+picture material. Participants (19 with low phonological awareness [PA] and 27…

Content area reading remains a primary concern of history educators. In order to better prepare students for encounters with text, the authors propose the use of two image analysis strategies tied with a historical theme to heighten student interest in historical content and provide a basis for improved reading comprehension.

Comprehension in textbooks, scholarly books, and research journal articles, along with identification of important information can be problematic for college students. Reading is fundamental in all academic disciplines. Many college instructors do not see that teaching students reading skills as part of their job, and that reading required…